Great Smokies Writing Program Classes
Spring 2027
We’re offering an exciting range of 5- and 10-week classes in Spring 2027!
Most of our classes are for-credit classes. For these, confirmation of NC residency is required in order to qualify for in-state tuition rates. A limited number of full scholarships are available to NC residents. Find tuition and scholarship information here.
We periodically offer non-credit workshops, for which there is no residency requirement.
For-Credit Classes
We're offering an exciting range of 5- and 10-week Spring 2027 classes! Tuition is determined on the residency-based model; students wishing to qualify for the in-state rate must complete residency determination through RDS. A limited number of full scholarships are available (see below).
Instructor: Andrew K. Clark
CRN: 10391
Hybrid: option to meet in-person at UNC Asheville or virtually
5 weeks
Wednesdays, 6:30–9:00 pm
March 10–April 7
This workshop is about finding the strange within the ordinary. Over five weeks, we’ll pair a study of excerpts from masters of magical realism with prompts that help you surface the surreal in your own voice, then workshop your pages for craft and control. No prior experience required, just a willingness to look at the world sideways.
Andrew K. Clark‘s debut novel, Where Dark Things Grow, was a finalist for The Manly Wade Wellman Award, shortlisted for The Sir Walter Raleigh Fiction Award, and won an Independent Book Publishers Award. The sequel, Where Dark Things Rise, won an IndieReader Discovery Award and was a finalist for a Next Generation Indie Book Award. His third novel, Hollow Folk, was published by Quill & Crow in September of 2026. His poetry collection, Jesus in the Trailer, was published by Main Street Rag Press. His work has appeared in The American Journal of Poetry, UCLA’s Out of Anonymity, The Appalachian Review, The Rappahannock Review, The Wrath Bearing Tree, and many other journals. He received his MFA from Converse University.
Instructor: Barbara Roether
CRN: 10510
In-person (location TBD)
5 weeks
Sundays, 3:00–5:30pm
March 28–April 25
Beyond the established world of traditional narrative, out past plot and close by the gods, new ways of writing about the worlds we experience are waiting for us. In this class we’ll explore a range of fresh approaches to writing: from “constellation stories” to prose poems, from dream books to hybrids and all the strange birds in between. If you feel limited by the requirements of accepted literary forms, this class is for you.
Instructor: NitaJade
CRN: 11143
Meets in-person at UNC Asheville
5 weeks
Fridays, 6:00-–8:30pm
March 19–April 16
In addition to exploring the broader history and culture of The Affrilachian Poets, a collective of Black and BIPOC poets from or in Appalachia, this course will spotlight a handful of those poets. Students will learn about founding and newly inducted Affrilachian Poets, then engage in generative “poetry boot camp” writing sessions. Over the course of five weeks, students will build a portfolio of Affrilachia-inspired poetry.
NitaJade, an Affrilachian Poet and self-proclaimed weirdo, hails from Asheville, NC. They earned their MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Kentucky and their debut poetry collection, Mob the Sky, is forthcoming from Loblolly Press in 2027. NitaJade’s writing has appeared in Callaloo, Poetry Northwest, Torch Literary Arts, Still: the Journal, The Griot: Journal of African American Studies, and The Anthology of Appalachian Writers, among other places. Their work is forthcoming in several anthologies, including Testament: A Rural Anthology (Backwoods Literary Press) and belonging to place: The Creative Community and Artistic Legacy of bell hooks (University Press of Kentucky). NitaJade insists that their late O.G. Queen’s sweet potato pie epitomizes love, and they aspire to embody the aesthetics of sloths and narwhals (slarwhals, if you please). They laugh loudly and stubbornly.
**CLASS FULL**
Instructor: Eric Nelson
CRN: 11144
Meets in-person (location TBD)
5 weeks
Tuesdays, 6:00–8:30pm
April 6–May 4
Robert Frost famously stated that poetry “provides the one permissible way of saying one thing and meaning another.” T.S. Eliot, via The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, declared that “It is impossible to say just what I mean!” and “That is not what I meant at all; / That is not it, at all.” Do these statements by two giants of 20th-century poetry contradict or complement each other? Are they even relevant to poetry of the 21st century? Why should we say one thing but mean another? How is that done? Is it possible to say what we mean? Is it possible to mean more than we say? These are some of the questions we will explore as we read and discuss a variety of poems. We will also write and workshop 3–4 poems in response to prompts that touch on the subject of saying and meaning.
Eric Nelson is the author of several poetry collections, most recently Horse Not Zebra. His poems have appeared in many journals, including Poetry, The Sun, The Oxford American, and The Missouri Review. He has been featured on Verse Daily and Poetry Daily and in several anthologies. Among his awards are The Gival Press Poetry Book Award, The X.J. Kennedy Poetry Award, The Arkansas Poetry Award, The Georgia Author of the Year Award, and fellowships to The Hambidge Center for the Arts and The Virginia Center for Creative Arts.
Instructor: Dale Neal
CRN: 10423
Meets in-person (location TBD)
10 weeks
Wednesdays, 6:00–8:30pm
Feb. 3–April 9
You’ve got a pile of pages or computer files in a rough draft of something you dream of becoming a novel. Now what? Now the real writing begins. No one gets it right the first time through, but by rewriting to make it better draft after draft. As Samuel Beckett noted, “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail Again. Fail Better.” Through class discussion, readings, and workshops, this class will offer strategies to help coax your plot and characters out of those rough pages, and will help you persevere closer to a finished manuscript.
Dale Neal is the author of several novels, including Kings of Coweetsee, Appalachian Book of the Dead, and Cow Across America. A novella, Floodmarks, is forthcoming in late 2026. His short fiction and essays have appeared in Arts & Letters, Carolina Quarterly, Marlboro Review, Crescent Review, and many other literary journals.
Instructor: Sebastian Matthews
CRN: 10753
Meets in-person at Story Parlor
10 weeks
Thursdays, 6:00–8:30pm
Feb. 4–April 10
Open to writers of all levels, this course offers a hands-on exploration of the craft of personal narrative. Along the way, you’ll try your hand at a dozen or more writing prompts, moving from composition to revision and experimenting with new ways to generate, shape, and rethink your work. We’ll focus on craft elements such as balancing showing and telling, crafting a scene, experimenting with collage techniques, and utilizing cinematic techniques in your prose. Each class will combine craft discussion, in-class writing exercises, and informal workshop, giving you the chance to put new approaches into practice and receive feedback on your work.
Whether you’re beginning a new project, returning to an old one, or simply looking to expand your range as a writer, the course is designed to give you practical tools and fresh ways into your writing.
Sebastian Matthews is the author of numerous books, including the memoir-in-essays Living in a Fractured State, the collage novel American Crow, and several poetry collections, including We Generous, Miracle Day, and Beginner’s Guide to a Head-on Collision. His poetry and prose have appeared in American Poetry Review, The Atlantic, Blackbird, The Common, The Georgia Review, The Massachusetts Review, New England Review, Poets & Writers, The Sun, Tin House, Virginia Quarterly Review, and The Writer’s Almanac.
Instructor: Luke Hankins
CRN: 11145
Meets in-person at Grace Episcopal Church
10 weeks
Saturdays, 3:00–5:30pm
Feb. 13–April 17
Harold Bloom, one of the most influential poetry critics of the 20th century, famously described a rather Freudian, agonistic relationship between a poet and their literary forebears in his seminal book The Anxiety of Influence. Rather than accepting this conflicted relationship as the norm or the ideal, in this class we’ll celebrate our poetic forebears by presenting examinations of their work and the ways it has influenced and inspired our own. We’ll consider individual poems as well as those poets’ broader stylistic, conceptual, and aesthetic characteristics. Through a combination of writing exercises, analytical assignments, and presentations, students will be encouraged to explore their poetic lineages in creative, multi-sensory, and/or genre-bending ways. Required text: My Poets by Maureen N. McLane.
Ready to Register for a For-Credit Class?
Use the buttons below to determine your NC residency status, complete the online GSWP for-credit class application, and learn more about program tuition & scholarships.
Questions? Email lhankins@unca.edu.